Meg Cabot
' Meg Cabot' (born Meggin Patricia Cabot on February 1, 1967) is a popular American chick-lit author of romantic comedies for teens and adults. She has also written under the name Meggin Cabot, as well as the pseudonyms Patricia Cabot and Jenny Carroll. She has written and published over fifty books, and is best known for The Princess Diaries, later made by Walt Disney Pictures into two feature films of the same name. Cabot has more than fifteen million copies of her books — children's, young adult, and adult — in print worldwide. Her website averages about 80,000 unique visitors a month. Biography Cabot was born in Bloomington, IN to college professor C. Victor and Barbara Cabot. She has two cats, Henrietta (a one eyed cat) and Gem, about whom she often blogs. In 1991, Cabot received a B.A. from Indiana University in Bloomington. Meg Cabot married financial writer and poet Benjamin D. Egnatz on April 1, 1993. Their wedding date, April Fool’s Day, was a deliberate play on her husband's belief that only fools get married in the first place. The wedding was actually an elopement in Italy. Her novel Every Boy's Got One is loosely based on her own elopement. Before she published her first book, Meg worked as an assistant dorm manager at New York University. After living in Indiana, California, New York, and France, she now currently resides in Key West, Florida. She splits her time between an apartment in New York, New York, and a barn in Bloomington, Indiana. In October 2004, Cabot was named by The Guardian as the author of the month. In May 2006, the Harvard Crimson released reports that 19-year-old author Kaavya Viswanathan borrowed passages from Cabot's Princess Diaries series, and other books, to place in her novel How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, and Got a Life. Viswanathan's novels were subsequently pulled from the shelves. Cabot has also written many books for teens, including The Princess Diaries series, which has won many awards, and her completed series, The Mediator. Children Novels *''Allie Finkle’s Rules for Girls'', March 1, 2008. On February 5, 2007, Scholastic Corporation announced that it had won the rights to publish Cabot's future books, including books for 8-12 year olds.4 Cabot will finish her contract with Harper Collins and then work for Scholastic with her new children's books and two new young-adult trilogies.5 Young adult novels ''The Princess Diaries'' series The first book in The Princess Diaries series was published in October 2000; the series spent 38 weeks on the New York Times Children's Series Best Sellers List and was sold to publishers in 37 foreign countries. As of April 14, 2006, the series was #4 on the New York Times bestseller list. Note that in the UK and Australia these are published under titles based on the volume number (eg: Mia Goes Fourth). The Princess Diaries: *''The Princess Diaries, Volume I'' (October 2000) *''Volume II: Princess in the Spotlight'' (June 2001) *''Volume III: Princess in Love'' (March 2002) *''Volume IV: Princess in Waiting'' (April 2003) **''Volume IV and 1/2: Project Princess'' (August 2003) *''Volume V: Princess in Pink'' (March 2004) *''Volume VI: Princess in Training'' (March 2005) **''Volume VI and 1/2: The Princess Present'' (October 2004) *''Volume VII: Party Princess'' (March 2006) **''Volume VII and 1/2: Sweet Sixteen Princess'' (May 2006) **''Volume VII and 3/4: Valentine Princess'' (December 2006) *''Volume VIII: Princess on the Brink'' (January 2007) *''Volume IX: Princess Mia'' (January 2008) *''Volume X: Forever Princess'' (January 2009) Illustrated by Chelsey McLaren: *''Princess Lessons'' (March 2003) *''Perfect Princess'' (March 2004) *''Holiday Princess'' (November 2005) In 2001 and 2004 respectively, the series was brought to the big screen by Walt Disney Pictures as The Princess Diaries and The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement starring Anne Hathaway and Julie Andrews. Cabot has thanked the movies many times in interviews and on her website because she believes that they helped boost her book sales, as well as making her the success that she is today. Cabot talks about her inspiration for the series: "I was inspired to write The Princess Diaries when my mom, after the death of my father, began dating one of my teachers, just as Mia’s mom does in the book! I have always had a 'thing' for princesses (my parents used to joke that when I was little, I did a lot of insisting that my 'real' parents, the king and queen, were going to come get me soon, and that everyone had better start being a LOT nicer to me) so I stuck a princess in the book just for kicks… and VOILA! The Princess Diaries was born."6 On April 6, 2006, Cabot announced a mistake on the back cover of her new book, Party Princess. In New Zealand and Australia, the picture on the back features Georgia Byng instead of Cabot. She said, "Don't worry. The copies of Princess Diaries 7 with Georgia Byng's picture on the back are being pulled from shops, and swapped for copies of the book with the correct author's photo (mine) on the back."5 In December 2006, Cabot announced that a mistake had been made in the front cover summary of Valentine Princess. Since the book chronicles Mia glancing at her old diaries, the characters Boris and Tina were not dating, rather Boris and Lilly. However, on the book flap it says Boris and Tina are a couple. Cabot has announced that this will be fixed by the publishing company. Cabot has stated that the series will end with its tenth book, when Mia turns 18.5 However, she has also said that she may drop in on her (Mia) from time to time in the future.5 The Mediator series: #''Shadowland'' (October 2000) #''Ninth Key'' (February 2001) #''Reunion'' (July 2001) #''Darkest Hour'' (December 2001) #''Haunted'' (February 2003) #''Twilight'' (December 2004) The Mediator Series is about a 16-year-old girl named Susannah Simon. Suze is a mediator, whose role is to help ghosts finish their business on earth so they can pass on to the afterlife. To this end, she can see, touch, communicate with, hit, punch, and 'kick ghost butt' when she has to. The series begins just after Suze's widowed mother marries Andy Ackerman, when she has moved to Carmel, California, to live in an old house complete with three stepbrothers. To make matters worse, her bedroom is haunted by an attractive male ghost named Jesse, who died 150 years earlier. Suze remembers that back in New York a fortune teller had told her that she was a mediator (which proved correct) and that she would only fall in love once but it would last for an eternity. Her one love for eternity just might be Jesse. But does he love her back? The four books were originally released under the pseudonym Jenny Carroll (this was when Cabot was working with different publishing houses). Haunted was the first title to have Meg Cabot's name on it. The first four books were later reprinted under Cabot's real name in 2005 with new cover art when Twilight was released in hardcover. In some editions alternate titles were used: Shadowland - Love You To Death; Ninth Key - High Stakes; Reunion - Mean Spirits; Darkest Hour - Young Blood; Haunted - Grave Doubts; Twilight - Heaven Sent.7 1-800-WHERE-R-YOU Series: #''When Lightning Strikes'' (February 2001) #''Code Name Cassandra'' (August 2001) #''Safe House'' (March 2002) #''Sanctuary'' (September 2002) #''Missing You'' (December 26, 2006) This series revolves around Jessica Mastriani, an ordinary teenage girl given extraordinary psychic powers after being struck by lightning. Her powers allow her to know the exact location of missing children in her dreams. After seeing a picture of a person, they appear in her dreams. The four books chronicle her attempts help missing children while trying to avoid the scrutiny of the federal government. Not to mention the fact that her mom doesn't approve of the guy she's in love with, and because of his probation neither does he! The first four books were written under Cabot's pseudonym, Jenny Carroll. After poor sales, the series was discontinued. Sales improved when the books were re-released in 2004 under Cabot's real name. Cabot was unhappy with the discontinuation; she stated that she wanted to take the series up to eight books. Her current publishing house agreed to publish one more installment. Missing You was released in December 2006 and ended the series. The 1-800-WHERE-R-YOU series was the basis for the television show Missing, which aired on the Lifetime cable network for three seasons from 2003 to 2006. ''All-American Girl'' series: *''All American Girl'', September 2002 *''Ready or Not: An All-American Girl Novel'', July 2005 The series revolves around Samantha Madison, a Washington, D.C., native who, while skipping her after-school art class, saves the life of the president, and becomes a national hero. The two books revolve around her rise to fame and her love life with the president's son, David. ''Avalon High'' series: *''Avalon High'', December 2005 *''Avalon High: Coronation'' (three-book manga series) **''The Merlin Prophecy'' (July 3, 2007) **''Hunter's Moon'' (June 24, 2008) **''Homecoming'' (July 2008 official date unknown) An Avalon High sequel is in the works. However, instead of a regular novel, it is part of a new partnership HarperCollins brokered with Tokyopop (a leading United States manga company). It will be released as a three-book manga series, called Avalon High: Coronation. The first manga, titled The Merlin Prophecy, was released on July 3, 2007 and was drawn by manga artist Jinky Coronado, who does the Banzai Girl manga. The Airhead trilogy: *''Airhead'', May 1, 2008 *''Being Nikki'', 2009 *Runaway, 2010 Other young adult fiction *''Nicola and the Viscount'', August 2002 *''Victoria and the Rogue'', March 2003 *''Teen Idol'', July 2004 *''How to Be Popular'', July 2006 *''Pants On Fire'' (formerly titled Tommy Sullivan is a Freak), May 2007 *''Jinx ,'' July 31, 2007 The Abandon Trilogy: *Abandon, 2011 *Underworld, 2012 Adult novels Heather Wells series #''Size 12 is Not Fat'', January 2006 #''Size 14 is Not Fat Either'', November 28, 2006 #''Big Boned'', December 2007 Size 12 is Not Fat is an adult mystery series that features former pop star Heather Wells. Heather was once a teen star, but was fired by her recording company when she asked to sing songs she had written instead of the ones they composed for her. The book opens just after Heather has gotten a job as a residence house coordinator at New York College and quickly discovers that young girls in the dorm are being murdered. The second book was originally titled Phat Chick, but this was changed by the publishers to It's Not Over Until The Size 12 Chick Sings, and finally, Size 14 is Not Fat Either, which continued Heather's amateur sleuthing adventures. The third book in the series is published under the title "Size Doesn't Matter" in Australia. In March, 2008 the series was contracted for two additional books. Queen of Babble series #''Queen of Babble'', May 2006 #''Queen of Babble in the Big City'', June 26, 2007 #''Queen of Babble Gets Hitched'', June 24, 2008 Queen of Babble debuted at #27 on the New York Times Bestseller List, the highest debut of any of Cabot's adult books; it was also the first of her adult books to be released in hardcover. The series focusses on Lizzie Nichols, a lover of vintage fashion - and of talking. In the first book, her big mouth gets her into trouble with her British boyfriend, Andrew, and Lizzie ends up rushing off to France where her good friend is vacationing and helping out with a wedding. Like most of Cabot's books, the plot is primarily based on romance, but it also deals with the aftermath of Lizzie's tendency to babble. The series is currently contracted as a trilogy. In the first series, Lizzie comes to England to be with Andrew, but after finding that he is lying to the British government, she leaves to her friend Shari in Mirac, a beautiful vineyard. On the train yard, she meets Jean-Luc (later known as Luke) who she confides about everything to him, much to her embarrassment when she hears he is her host. Even though she begins to crush on him, she finds that he has a mean girlfriend who takes advantage of him. At the end, Luke and Lizzie get together even though Luke is upset for Lizzie telling his mother about wanting to be a doctor. Romance novels These novels were written under Cabot's pseudonym, Patricia Cabot. *''Where Roses Grow Wild'', March 1998 *''Portrait of My Heart'', January 1999 *''An Improper Proposal'', November 1999 *''A Little Scandal'', June 2000 *''Lady of Skye'', December 2000 *''Educating Caroline'', November 2001 *''Kiss the Bride'', May 2002 Boy Series *''The Boy Next Door'', October 2002 (as Meggin Cabot) *''Boy Meets Girl'', January 2004 *''Every Boy's Got One'', January 2005 Other works *She Went All the Way, December 2002 (as Meggin Cabot) Short stories *"The Christmas Captive" (as Patricia Cabot), included in the adult romance anthology A Season in the Highlands, which was published in November 2000. *"Girl’s Guide to New York through the Movies" included in Metropolis Found: New York Is Book Country 25th Anniversary Collection, published in August 2003. *"Kate the Great" included in Thirteen: Thirteen Stories That Capture the Agony and Ecstasy of Being Thirteen, published October 2003. *"Party Planner" included in the adult short story collection Girls' Night In, published September 2004. *"Connie "Hunter" Williams, Psychic Teacher" included in the teen short story collection Friends: Stories About New Friends, Old Friends, and Unexpectedly True Friends, published August 2005. *"Allie Finklestine's Rules for Boys" included in the CosmoGIRL! short story collection Shining On, published April 2006. *"Reunion" included in the adult short story collection Girls' Night Out, published June 2006. *"Cry, Linda, Cry: Judy Blume’s Blubber and The Cruelest Thing in the World" included in Everything I Needed to Know About Being a Girl I Learned From Judy Blume, published Spring 2007. *"Ask Annie" included in Midnight Feast, published July 2007. *"The Exterminator's Daughter" included in Prom Nights From Hell, published May 2007. *"Every Girl's Dream" A short story written by Cabot out of the Mediator Series. Screenplays *Early versions of the screenplay for Disney's Ice Princess, released in 2005, were written by Meg Cabot Awards *''Romantic Times'' Reviewers Choice Award for Best British Isles Historical Romance, 1999, for An Improper Proposal *Top Ten Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers selection, Best Book selection, American Library Association, and New York Public Library Teen Book for the New Millennium citation, all 2001, all for The Princess Diaries *Edgar Allan Poe Award nomination, best young adult category, Mystery Writers of America, 2003, for Safe House *''The Princess Diaries'' was voted "one of the nation's 100 best-loved novels" by the British public as part of the "The Big Read," British Broadcasting Corporation, 2003.